Nutritional supplement for repeated fractures.

Dr. Marie replied:

Oh, I am so sorry to hear about Marco's accidents. I have a patient in my practice who has a similar problem. (She is an Italian Greyhound and has tiny, tiny legs.)

I am always a little leary about adding a supplement to a dog's food unless we really know that he needs it. It would be great to have your vet run a blood panel that includes calcium and phosphorus. If those two minerals are in the normal range, then there really will be no benefit to supplementing the diet to try to strengthen the bones.

Sometimes we can do more harm than good in trying to supplement a diet that doesn't need it. If we start giving calcium it can send a signal to the bones that they don't need to make calcium and this can actually cause the bones to be weaker.

Be sure that he is on a good quality diet and not one of the cheaper diets.

You could also ask your vet about an omega fatty acid supplement. While it doesn't directly strengthen the bones it does wonders for overall health.

I hope there are no more fractures for Marco!

Dr. Marie.

---This question was asked in our Ask A Vet For Free section.---


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